Mystery of Royal Grafton 1834 L

by Deborah
(Cincinnati, OH USA)

Dear Peter and all

Since I was a poor young thing living independently I shopped at thrift stores for pretty pieces of china. My first "set" of china was one each of a dozen different complimentary patterns of fine china I was able to buy cheaply at these stores.

When I first met my mother-in-law-to-be she had a very large teacup and saucer collection. That was good news - something in common. When my mother-in-law passed away I inherited several pieces.

There were two Royal Albert pieces, one Havilland & Co. Limoges and this one piece of Royal Grafton. I was able to successfully identify 2 out of 4. The Royal Albert items were easily identified.

The Havilland was/is very difficult because most patterns went unnamed and mine is so similar to dozens of others with sculpted plates and tiny pink roses. I may never find that.

Someday when I pass these lovely items on to my daughter-in-law I hope to be able to give her some history to make them more meaningful to her. After searching this site, although I didn't find specific information, I am hopeful that someone can tell me about this cup and saucer.

I was able to find that the numbers which appear to be hand painted in gold on the bottom of the cup represent pattern numbers. Searches of all the "replacement" websites I could find did not yield that pattern and general informational websites did not either. So now I am hoping that someone out there will know what 1834 L stands for on this Royal Grafton Fine Bone China teacup and saucer, if the pattern has a name and what year it might have been manufactured.

I know that it had to be between late 1800s and 1972 but have hit an information void beyond that. After spending about 2 full days researching this I think it's time to ask for the reinforcements!

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Deborah